I like to call it The Vast Levelation because there are so many damn levels.

FYI, the Egyptian "chess" sequence is actually a game of Senet. Look it up, it's fun once you get a hang of the rules. Also, big props to the development team on including this in the game. Nothing like a little research to lend authenticity to the Egyptian experience.

The Tomb raider games were the only reason why I wanted to travel the world as a kid. Ten years after playing TR2 I traveled to venice and had a wonderful time discovering the city of water I dreamed a decade of. Never managed to go to egypt though...

The snake puzzle is totally doable by using the logic of the switches (they only lit up/go out depending on what is connected by the lines). I never knew there was a scroll to pick up before and I personally prefer it like that. Felt like a legit brain teaser.

Me and my mom used to play this so much together. It has a special place for me.

The Egyptian bull as you call it... haunting my dreams since 1999. For some reason I always find that part terrifying.

That God damn hook in Alexandria took me days to find. DAAAAYSSSSS.

13:30 It's not a bug.Lara can't go into crawl position from the ladder climb.You have to release the action button and quickly press it again, so that she is in her "normal" hanging position.Then she can enter the hole.

Lara spends her time raiding tombs. But considering that she was supposed to die at the end of this game, I suppose you could argue that she got raided by a tomb. So the tomb is the hero of the game.

on that part where lara wouldn't crawl into the crawl space you actually have to let go and then immediately grab again so that lara is hanging then you can enter

I found out that you can actually climb the ladder whilst the hammer dude is there if you climb the ladder in the corner on the right, found it totally by accident and couldn't stop smiling lol.

The planet puzzle is actually one of the more ingenious ones, authentic to the time period. I didn't know about the binoculars and that map, but I did reason that in ancient Greece and Egypt, philosphers, astronomers and mathematicians like Aristotle and Ptolemy believed in a geocentric model for our solar system, not a heliocentric one. So I tried to recall from elementary school times which order the planets come in, and how to alterate the model to accord for the Ptolemaic model, and hey presto, it worked. That puzzle was some good shit. Now it's obscure to know all this, but I liked the time when video games taught you this kinda stuff. You can count on the fact that if this game were made today, you would just find a scroll where it says "Ptolemy believed the Earth was at the centre of the solar system, with the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars etc. following." Which isn't much of a puzzle at all, and doesn't really teach you anything because you're not figuring anything out for yourself.

Watching this video, I wonder how 8 year old me managed to complete this. What're your thoughts on the isometric Lara Croft titled games?

The greatest Tomb Raider game ever made. Its vastness, hardness and being one of the classics make it the BEST.

I've just found your reviews and have watched them for the nostalgia. I played from TR1 to AOD together with my little sister. You are spot on nearly every time with your analysis and especially with TR3 that I really laughed out loud watching - my real issue was the sodding coin in Aldwych Station. Man the underwater trial and error maze I really remember. I think that was one of the only things I cheated on - mostly because it was so pointless and stupid. You never mentioned the music - the music of the first two is so atmospheric. I think the only thing I disagree with you on are the blocks... yes ok some of the puzzles are long and require a lot of movement.... but the blocks are clearly heavy - and although I never played the newer games I have seen them and seeing Lara climbing poles faster that a squirrel on speed and pushing things like they are made of of paper just looks crap, it really breaks the immersion for me. The new games just look cheap - like Mario or Crash Bandicoot or some shit.

Your videos are great. Strong Matthewmatosis and RLM vibes with your own spices thrown in.

27:07-27:56 absolutely kills me every time haha great review man. 😆

My childhood game and first Tomb Raider ever. That was a real adventure experience in all ways. Level design was epic, game was so hard and scary at the moments. I played other Tomb Raider games later but damn, this one was so unique

I played this game for years and could not beat it without a guide.

Loved this game back in the day. Thank you for this upload. Brought back some good memories.

This is my personal favorite tomb raider next to TR2. I love the theme a lot and it's so accurate and on point. The open world level design was a bit ahead of its time and kinda confusing but once you pushed passed it you felt a sense of accomplishment. I haven't beat this game as of yet but I am working on getting a copy on the original Playstation. I am debating on playing it for PC but the controls seems a bit wonky for a PC. (I always prefer a controller)

I'm currently replaying TLR after rewatching your review and I just wanted to address a couple things I noticed You CAN actually interact with the crowbar with all the weird doors, but it's from the other side. They're used to backtrack from the Catacombs and the Temple of Poseidon back to the Coastal Ruins (which was kind of useless anyway imo). Your point still stands that it's completely counter-intuitive, but they do function all the same way. Also, there IS another instance where you have to jump from rope to rope, but it's on the path you unlock when you lose the game of Senet, so I guess there is indeed an advantage to winning the game. And it's three ropes too, this time. They're positioned in a straight line so technically it should be easier to manage but somehow it's still a pain in the ass to pull off, somehow Lara stops being aligned to the ropes once she grabs one so you have to put her back in the right position every time. Anyway love your videos, strangely there aren't many KZfaqrs who talk about classic Tomb Raider so it's really nice. I love popping one of your videos everytime I boot up the PS1 and play one of the first four games

This is my favorite TR game. :)

I loved this game after TR3, it felt really focused with only having Egypt, better cutscenes, characters actually moving their mouthes when talking, the tutorial happening in an actual level, the atmospehere, the traps, the train level, the multilevel layouts. It all felt great. Until I reached the City of the dead levels. Those were completely shit, everything is dark, there's tons of backtracking, too many random items, too many puzzles which were far away and with no clear hinting on what to do. That's the point where I had to use a walkthrough for the first time in this game.

30:47 ...How did you not notice that the movable blocks look like planets?! Other than that, great review. I just cannot comprehend how you managed to miss that.

I remember getting this for Christmas and I had such a blast playing that day 😊

When it released I didn't really like it and it felt monotonous with long, similar themed levels. After really giving it a chance and doing a full no cheat playthrough, I changed my opinion and TLR is the most immersive and mysterious, ominous entry in the core franchise for me. It still holds a special place for me :) I actually had none of the logic problems you encountered with the trapdoor, the crowbar door, the turret fuel tanks and so on. I explored those just naturally playing but I can see how one could miss them on first glance. Then again I grew up with playing all the Tomb Raider games right at their release so I was accustomed to the 90s era of sometimes somewhat senseless trial and error puzzle design. I also read the game's manual as one did back then which clearly explains all the new moves.

51:50 This was the ending of my first play. I picked up three keys in mastabas, so when I saw I am missing one and searched everywhere, I concluded the fourth was also in mastabas, which were unreachable at that point. I concluded it's a game breaker and I ended it there. There was no internet at the time :/

Thanks for reminding me Fitzthistlewits is still dead with that one chess bit.

I love your Reviews. Please Review some other games from 1996 to 2005 too.

25:32 You probably already know this, but fall damage also works against skellys. You just need to bait them into jumping a gap, and usually one shotgun shot to the ribs does the trick.

I was one of the poor fuckers in the Lost Library who didn't realise you could look up that shaft. Also, I encountered a game breaking bug in Under the Sphinx where the blocks wouldn't reset after each room. Jankey, but still a really enjoyable game

You do a really good job on these reviews. Is this all your gameplay? Tomb raider Last Revelation has a lot of great memories for me. One of my favorite games of all time & TRs. Unfortunately, a few of the sections in this game are frustrating like you said. I beat the the first half of this game (up to city of the dead) like half a dozen times or more, but only beat the full game once as a kid. I'd always quit when getting to city of the dead section cause I'd get confused and frustrated. But I finally beat this game using walkthroughs online a second time last summer. Might have to give this game a go again & maybe get all or more secrets. Love the atmosphere and Egypt setting in this game. It was the game that made me a tomb raider fan for life. I just wish certain parts of the game were not frustrating. The underwater puzzle in the sphinx WAS BULLCRAP! Btw I think I had that torch glitch in the later pyramid levels.

one of my favourite classic games and on ps1 and on pc and loved playing the Dreamcast version

13:28 that bug is easily fixed by letting go of the climb button and quickly pressing it again and push Lara up without having her feet on the wall. Lara sometimes needs to in the shimmy position, not the climbing action, to get into small spaces.

@ 25:00 In the Tomb of Semerkhet, if you lose the game of Egyptian Chess(Senet) you are introduced to the immortal spirits AND have to jump rope to rope.

Fun fact: Joby Wood made the Giza levels so you can't complain about TR3 level designers there!

Wow. I thought it would be a fast review then i checked the video at 8 minutes and realised it's 57mins long... this is my favorite TR game, so i will watch the whole thing anyway, nice job.

For some reason the cutscene designers couldn't settle for Colt Deltas or Desert eagles in this game

Its interesting though, because interviews in 99 indicated that Lara would have a notebook, where she jot down her progress and hints. The binoculars had more use and would had been able to combine a flashlight with a gun. It is a shame that these concepts never made it in, probably because of deadlines.

the puzzle with the 4 levers and the 2 tombs that open beneath( in the citadel area, i think) , the solution is in the top of the church , there are symbols that match with numbers ..and the tombs have symbols engraved on them...but u already know this already

whoa. I got this for christmas when it was brand new! I totally forgot this!

Amazing review, honest and funny. I subscribed to your channel.

God i love your content

Your voice never changes for an entire hour.

nice video MAN! such a breath of fresh air watching this video right after tomb raider's 5 review, your zombie voice wasn't doing it for me MAN! jk, excelent video

Gotta love Jonell's voice

The only classic TR I haven't finished, even TR3 didn't left me dumbfounded as to what the hell I had to do though it felt like a chore many times. You can tell Core Design got really tired and burned after TR2 so the level design suffered

Senet is possably the first board game ever made and i think it's actually a cool addition

god i remember doing these puzzles without looking them up, no wonder i have over 30 hours in the game and i havent even beaten it. lol

Really great video

48:37 This puzzle, at least for the first hole you fist, is that the letter has to match up with which number of the alphabet it corresponds to. The F hieroglyphic is the 6th one which is the only one that makes sense, hence why it works.

I've finished this game at least 20 times in my life, I know it off by heart but I STILL never understand the water skin puzzle in the last level 🤣 I always need to check a walkthrough because I just can't get my head around the mathematics of it, I'm so dyslexic with numbers 🤣🤣

On PC back in the day could not complete the race when training with Von Croy. Always got stuck as could not clear a jump mid-section - ever (forget which; so long ago). Failed at least 12 times - then gave up; either me, a bug or the PC was too slow. Did go back a few months later but problem remained so gave up :(

You can climb up by those cogs at 28.33 without taking damage. You have to climb the pole until you are just under the cog. Then at the moment the cog is in the far left corner from Lara crawl up one space then immediatley jumb back onto the above platform.

I know I finished this game when I was a kid. Now that I've watched this review, I have no fucking idea how I did it back then.

Did you installed any mods or patch to get such a clean render of the game ?

I always thought Werner Von Croy loomed like Max Von Sydow.

Ive completed this game and I never knew about that map 31:15 or the fire serpent scroll. lol

Excellent thorough review, thanks

Is that snake eater music at the end!? It is I can tell

does the new next-gen Tomb Raider Series have supernatural elements like the old ones?

Also curious to hear your thoughts on the 2 isometric games..

This was the greatest one in my opinion 💯 I loved it my FAV!!!

I'm 90% sure the poison mechanic was introduced in Tomb Raider 3. Also in the tutorial level. And those black scorpions in Karnak.

i realise now that i did the solar system puzzle without looking up to use the binoculars - i think most of them are recognisable - like the sun and moon are pretty obvious

WAIT, Lara has a bow in Tomb Raider 4 a BOW! I've been pissed about the thing since it was introduced in the reboots and here it is in TR4... wait this one looks cooler and blows shit up. I think I'm more madder that my dual pistols have been excluded from the current games more though i mean shit just put em in there SIGH!

With this one I have a love-hate kind of relation. I love some levels and hate others (like the buggy car chase, but I play the PSX version, so maybe that's why). Great video as always, but why streched widescreen? Improper aspect ratio looks awful.

I think we might have watched the same chess review...

It seems that at times when the designers ran out of ideas they just added a large hole for Lara to cross. This game is definitely the most boring of the series. I like the Eqyptian setting (TR1 nostalgia), but only being in Egypt is dull. Also, why does Seth (the snake god) look like Anubis (the jackal)?

i think if they could make a remake just as it was done with resident evil two reducing the levels but keepin the story , i see that it might be very enjoyable for seek of fans ! tomb raider 2 also , the floatin islands was a mess but the story was enjoyable , again a remake would far be great than the TR 2013 !

This is the hardest tomb raider game.

Well, finally.

One of the best Tomb Raider games. The only thing I didn't like about is that dead bodies disappear

Im curious to hear your opinion on the uncharted 4 spinoff: zoey raider

Yay, finished this twice now. Has Ana stopped yelling? 😁

20:27 How the npcs look more real than Laura

how the heck did i manage to complete the dark city when i was young

I know it's useless to comment now but The boss with the hammer Can be bypassed if you try to climb the wall hanging only by the hands

Love your TR reviews! How do you record game play footage?

REMAKE PLEASE!!!!!

remember me? ayyy

"bust size" looks the same

22:20 in this part one explosive arrow destroys all the targets

Really enjoying rewatching these video but bro I hope you've grown up from comments like 18:34 😬😬😬

54:24 - 56:16 great summary. It’s like the first time someone said truth about TR 1-4.

09:52 nope, the Dreamcast-version had dynamic shadows. for whatever reason the PC-version does not. so if you wanna play it today, best use a DC-emulator.

You use some lovely eloquent vocabulary =]

15:50 after her 😁

I'm hoping to god we get an angel of darkness review

I was one of those assholes who dragged the blocks around trial and error style.

I don't think those are tears in the side of her shirt. I think she is wearing a one piece bathing suit under her cargo shorts.

Iv played it good game

that chess thing its actually knows to be some of the oldest games ever.. :)

Come on The Game Statistic :P This was your favourite Tomb Raider game right? :P

Nice review, yar the library planet moving was a bitch to do untill we cheated and bought the guidebook. When i was about 10 me and three others got to the part where you find the wounded soldier before meeting the crazy dragon thing. I'm kind of glad we didn't make it as far as the water maze though. that drop down claw in chronicles was really scarry i remember :)

I love your reviews but that floor panel rant in the Lost Library was bollocks 🤣 Who tf (as you showed) would stand next to a thing they thought they could use the crowbar on and manually look for it in their inventory? You just press action and if she can use the crowbar the menu opens. So if you pressed action next to the floor panel looking for the crowbar she would just open it, problem solved. You were just looking for problems there 🤣 I refuse to believe someone who played the previous 3 Tomb Raiders so in depth wouldn't know you just press action next to an interactable and the menu opens automatically to what you might need. Other than that, fabulous review ❤

took you long enough, btw care for some friendlies?

In each part of the game it feels like you basically have to do a whole bunch of stuff to get to a new area, that's what it's all about. Great game though.

tomb raider wie ich es geliebt habe